Fall Brawl '97

Legacy Review

Fall Brawl '97

September 14, 1997 from the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, NC

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and rotating guests

WCW saw War Games was coming up on the calendar, so to get ready they cranked up an NWO/Four Horsemen feud that, with hindsight, looks like it was designed solely to destroy whatever credibility the Horsemen had left. During the build the now fully retired Arn Anderson gave Curt Hennig his old spot in the Horsemen, and after that the NWO did their (in)famous Four Horsemen impersonation segment on Nitro. I'm not sure why Dusty is missing this show but I'm not examining the gift horse's dentistry.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Eddie Guerrero def Chris Jericho (c) in 17:19- Mike Tenay starts the show as the third man in the booth to kick us off. This is a rematch from the last Clash. There's a big "Eddie sucks" chant at the start and Guerrero slides out to stall. I'd say before or after the bell, but unless I was spacing there was never a bell to start this match. Lockup, Jericho hits an armdrag, and Guerrero goes right to the heel 101 phantom hair pull bitch. Headlock/headscissors run, stalemate and another hair pull bitch. Guerrero takes a huge bump off a Jericho shoulderblock. Jericho armdrags out of some Guerrero arm work. Guerrero's frustrated. Another lockup and Guerrero hits some European uppercuts and chops in the corner. More Jericho armdrags and he does a bit of arm work. He tries to stretch out an armbreaker. After a few failed escapes Guerrero eventually works into a cradle for 2. He goes for a magistral cradle. Jericho counters with his own magistral for 2. Back on Guerrero's arm. Speed run and Guerrero takes a HIGH elevation hot shot. Lionsault! That gets a 2 count. Jericho goes back to the arm. Guerrero leaps over the top rope while still being held and snaps Jericho's throat over the top rope. Dropkicks to Jericho's back and Guerrero targets the back to wear down. Straight drop back suplex. Guerrero hooks up for a surfboard and turns it into another back stretch. Jericho's facial expressions in the hold are amazing. He slowly fights up to his feet, then manages to reverse the hold. Another European uppercut puts Jericho back down. More back punishment. Gory Special! Jericho reverses it! Guerrero gets up on Jericho's shoulders and Jericho faceplants him on the mat. Guerrero does some dodges, knucklelocks Jericho, and tries to walk the top rope. Jericho crotches him and gives him his own version of a bronco buster. The springboard dropkick puts Guerrero on the apron. Jericho teases a powerbomb on or off the apron, but instead hot shots Guerrero again and they both fall down into the guardrail. Back in we get a long counter run and Jericho hits a HUGE release German suplex for 2. Guerrero counters a powerbomb attempt into a uranage. Jericho powerslam for 2. Guerrero gets tossed across the ring and Jericho hits a leg lariat for 2. Flapjack. Jericho tries another magistral. Guerrero blocks and covers for 2. Double powerbomb from Jericho. He sets up for a superplex. Guerrero counters in midair with a crossbody! He hops up the other side. Frog splash! Guerrero gets the pin and the title! What a match. *This* is what these guys can do, and so early in their careers. One thing I really liked is how well paced it was, almost like an early '90s WCW Light Heavyweight match or even a New Japan junior match with lots of mat and body part work that never got dull or boring. ****1/2

 

The Steiner Brothers (w/Ted DiBiase) def Harlem Heat (w/Miss Jacqueline) in 11:44- Larry Zbyszko replaces Tenay in the booth. DiBiase being paired with the Steiners is so weird. I get doing it right after him leaving the NWO, but it should have been a temporary thing. Lots of jawing before the bell before Scott and Ray start. Scott clean breaks in the corner. Ray doesn't. They go back and forth for a bit. Ray hits a side suplex. Scott hits a belly to belly suplex and Ray powders. Booker tags in. Scott cranks his arm. Booker slaps on a full nelson! That's different. Booker tries coming off the top but Scott catches and belly to bellys him. Press slam. The Steiners clear the ring and pose, and Heat regroup on the floor again. The Steiners work some quick tags on Booker. Booker gets his boot up on Rick and hits a side kick. Ray beats Rick down. Rick catches Booker leaping and slams him for 2. Tag to Scott. Ray distracts and Booker superkicks Scott 360 over the top rope! Fantastic flop by Scott there. Everyone fumbles around on the floor a bit, seeming to want to do a Jacqueline gets a hit in spot but they bail at the last second. Rick breaks up a TV cable choke. Back in Booker ducks a Steinerline and hits a flying forearm for 2. Scott catches another side kick attempt and slams Booker. He *just* gets to Rick for a tag. Steinerline! Steinerline! Heat get tossed around. Bulldog off the top! Heat manage to double team Rick. The Heat Seeker hits! Rick kicks out! I think Scott was supposed to save but was out of position so Rick kicked out. The Steiners hit the Steinerline/German combo, and that gets the pin! That was actually pretty damn good, despite a couple of sloppy patches. That was about as good as the Steiner have looked at any point in this post-peak period. ***

 

WCW World Television Championship: Alex Wright (c) def Ultimo Dragon in 18:43- Tenay rejoins the booth but Zbyszko doesn't leave, giving us the AEW sized 4 man booth. This is another rematch from the Clash, where Wright defeated Dragon for the title. Wright gets a quick slam after the lockup. He starts dancing. Dragon dropkicks him in the back! Thank you. Wright powders. Back in they trade wristlocks with flippy escapes. Wright pulls Dragon's mask and they both work some headlocks and counters. Big Dragon shoulderblock and he goes into a kick combo. A heel kick completely whiffs. Dragon recovers and superkicks Wright to the floor instead. Wright hits a hot shot. Corner chops and more dancing. Spinning heel kick for 2. Front slam piledriver. The next 5 minutes or so are Wright working that identity crisis chinlock/sleeper again, hitting a few shots, back to the chinsleeper, rinse and repeat. It's very dull as you'd expect from Wright and drags the match down. Eventually Dragon gets a sunset flip. Wright counters then starts dancing, so Dragon rolls him up for 2. Wright goes for a superplex but Dragon fights it off. He comes off the top but Wright gets his boots up. Standing switch, Wright hits a back elbow and heel kick. Snap suplex. He comes off the top and Dragon takes his turn to get his boots up. More rapid fire kicks and Wright falls to the floor. Asai moonsault! Dragon hits a hurricanrana in the ring but can't follow up. Chop exchange with both guys on their knees. Dragon hits a basement dropkick. Wright crotches Dragon on the top rope and dropkicks him to the floor. Plancha! Back in Dragon hits a double underhook suplex for 2. Tiger suplex! Wright escapes at 2. They trade counters on the top rope and Dragon hits a sunset bomb for 2. Setup slam and Dragon moonsault for 2. He hits another hurricanrana but Wright reverses the cradle for 2. Dragon tries coming off the top but Wright dropkicks him in midair for a long 2. Wright small package for 2. Dragon magistral for 2. The top rope hurricanrana hits. Dragon sleeper! Wright quickly gets a rope break. Dragon tries again but Wright jawbreakers out. German suplex! That gets the pin! That was easily Dragon's "worst" PPV match in quite a while. There was way too much Wright in control for it to be good, and even in other parts of the match Dragon looked slightly off for whatever reason. **3/4

The NWO interrupt tonight's Mean Gene hotline shill (Arn Anderson is SEETHING about the NWO impersonating the Horsemen segment, which is probably a shoot interview) to lay out Hennig in the locker room.

 

Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra) def Dean Malenko in 14:53- Tenay is again out and we're left with Zbyszko as the 3rd man for the night. Sadly it's for reasons beyond taking up space in the booth, as we'll see later. Maybe Dusty being out isn't such a good thing after all. The winner of this match, in theory, gets a US title shot against Mongo at Halloween Havoc. Before the bell Jarrett hops out and tells Debra to take a hike so she won't be a distraction. Jarrett hits an armdrag out of the lockup, struts and chills in the corner. Yeah, if there's one guy you're not going to provoke with those antics it's the Ice Man. Jarrett escapes a hammerlock then somehow complains about a hair pull after a shoulderblock. Malenko gets a drop toe hold but Jarrett reverses the hammerlock. They trade some more basic counters before Malenko does another drop toe hold and walks over Jarrett. Jarrett takes his turn for a drop toe hold but Malenko dodges the follow up elbow drop. Malenko hits a dropkick and Jarrett powders. Back in Jarrett works a headlock. Speed run and some Malenko punches put Jarrett down. Jarrett ducks a punch and hooks on the sleeper. Malenko quickly falls into the ropes. He leaps over the top rope, goes up and hits a double ax handle. Superplex from Malenko. Jarrett dodges a dropkick and tries a jackknife cover. Malenko rolls through it to lay in some ground and pound. German suplex. The cloverleaf is on! Jarrett grabs a rope. Debra's back out. What was the point of sending her away? Malenko hits a crossbody and both guys tumble over the ropes to the floor. Baseball slide from Malenko. He attacks Jarrett's knee on the floor. Leg lariat back in for 2. Jarrett hits a back elbow and starts in on his own knee work. Malenko tries a suplex but Jarrett falls on him for 2. Malenko sleeper! Jarrett back suplexes out. He comes off the second rope, avoids Malenko's counter boot up, and uses the leg offered to go for the figure four. Malenko small packages him for 2. Backslide for 2 Swinging neckbreaker from Jarrett. Cradle counters for near falls. Malenko blocks a kneebreaker. Jarrett with a chop block! Figure four! Malenko submits! Still trying to figure out the point of sending Debra off. Malenko's a machine and Jarrett is capable of a great match the rare instances he's actually motivated, but this was merely OK. Jarrett wouldn't get the title shot at Halloween Havoc because by the time that show rolled around he'd jumped back to WWF. **1/2

Another NWO promo segment brought to you by no one is taking this seriously.

 

Wrath and Mortis (w/James Vandenberg) def The Faces of Fear in 12:22- I don't know if my brain can take Wrath or Mortis wrestling anyone on a PPV that's not Glacier. Barbarian and Mortis start with some back and forth pounding. Clothesline from Barbarian for 2. Meng pounds Mortis down. Mortis dodges a corner splash and tags. Wrath and Meng go full on crazy brawl. Wrath hits a clothesline off the second rope. Both FOF beat on Mortis. Backdrop into a powerbomb double team from the FOF. Wrath breaks the pin up. Barbarian hits a pumphandle slam. Mortis gets caught in the wrong corner. Clotheslines from Mortis only hulk Meng up. Big Meng chops. Barbarian goes up top but Vandenberg shakes the rope to knock him down. Barbarian fights off a superplex but leaps down into a Wrath boot. Meanwhile Meng is chasing Vandenberg. Wrath and Mortis hit a double team neckbreaker. Meng just gets back in to break the pin up. Wrath hits a backbreaker followed by a Vader bomb elbow for 2. Mortis drops Barbarian with a standing legdrop. Clothesline off the top from Wrath. Barbarian goes into the stairs, then the stairs go into Barbarian. Wrath and Mortis hit a double team superplex! OK, that was cool. Definitely woke the crowd up. Tags on both sides and Meng goes nuts. Powerslam on Wrath. Meng kicks Mortis in the face. Splash off the top and it's everyone in the pool time. Vandenberg tries to get a shot in but Meng gives him and Mortis the rare Double Fist Tongan Death Grip. Wrath comes in, gives Meng a uranage, and that gets the pin. It's nicely stiff and physical but nothing special. **

 

The Giant def Scott Norton in 5:27- Our first NWO match of the night with Norton representing them. Commentary pushes the idea that Giant could be a ringer for the Horsemen in War Games if Hennig is indeed out. They quickly get to slugging. Giant has to help Norton get over the top rope after an attempt at a 360 to the floor. Giant gets posted. Norton takes a suplex on the floor. As soon as they get back in the ring Norton clotheslines Giant back out, going over the top himself. Back in again Giant lays in the clubbing blows until Norton blatantly low blows him. He manages to get Giant up for a hot shot, then goes into the usual Norton punchy chokey stuff. Along with a couple of avalanches. He back suplexes Giant! Giant does the chokeslam gesture from the ground, then kips up! With a bit of help from the ropes but still. Dropkick from Giant! Chokeslam and it's done. Giant is definitely trying to show he can do more than people think he can. *

 

No DQ: Diamond Dallas Page and "The Total Package" Lex Luger def "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Scott Hall (w/Elizabeth) in 10:19- Yet another rematch from the Clash here, though in that match Hall and Savage defended the tag titles under Freebird rules. No such luck tonight. Hall wants to start with Luger and gets him. Long lockup fight that Luger eventually wins. Zbyszko calls Hall the "most overrated wrestler in the world". Luger hits Hall with the running forearm of I guess the STEEL PLATE OF DEATH is out now. Savage runs in and Luger takes them both out. The crowd wants DDP and gets him. Hall runs through some of his usual arm work on him. DDP jabs back with Hall doing his drunk-like sell. Something he was very familiar with. Inverted atomic drop with more Hall oversell. DDP hits the front piledriver and punches Savage out. Savage responds by tripping DDP, allowing Hall to nail him from behind. DDP goes in peril. Hall hits the fallaway slam for 2. DDP fights out of the NWO corner but the tag is cut off. Hall stomps Luger down into the gap between rings. Savage tosses DDP over the top rope across rings. Hall tosses him back over the other way. The ref's not a fan of the ring swapping so Hall punches him out. Savage goes into full beatdown stall mode on DDP while all the "important" stuff happens in the other ring. A backup ref comes in and Hall takes him out. There is now a stack of referee bodies in ring 2. Zbyszko loses it, leaving the booth and heading to the ring. He's had enough of Hall. He and Hall jaw and wave hands around at each other while Luger slowly pulls himself up from the canyon that apparently exists in the between rings gap. Once he's finally in position Zbyszko shoves Hall, Luger rolls him up, and Zbyszko fast counts 3. And the bell rings. So what, is Zbyszko an official referee now? All about the angle. This was just the start of Zbyszko being the new legend foil for the NWO. 3/4*

 

War Games: Team NWO def The Four Horsemen in 19:38- Curt Hennig is not out with his Horsemen teammates to start the match. The Horsemen don't get quite the crowd reaction you'd expect in Horsemen country. Could just be the way WCW has the crowd mic'd, they could never really get that right.

P1. Buff Bagwell & Chris Benoit- Cross-ring staredown to start. Benoit makes the first move while Bagwell, like he always did, finds the camera. He gives Benoit some flexes. Then slaps Benoit! No one ever accused of Bagwell of, well, being anything other than a dumbass. Benoit quickly sends him flying into the cage. He pounds Bagwell down and is looking extra ornery tonight. He suplexes Bagwell's back into the cage. Big chops. Bagwell dodges the headbutt off the top rope. "We want Sting" chant from the crowd as Bagwell takes over. Benoit gets backdropped into the cage. Meanwhile, the heels win the coin toss. I'm shocked. SHOCKED. Benoit gets a comeback flurry the last 20 seconds of the period.

P2. Konnan- He tries coming off the top rope but Benoit uses Bagwell holding him to kick him. Snap suplex for Konnan, then Benoit slams Bagwell on Konnan. Both NWO guys eat cage. Konnan hits a DDT as the 2 on 1 starts to take over. Bagwell, naturally, finds the camera to do some mugging.

P3. Steve "Mongo" McMichael- Slams for everyone. 3 point stance chop block on Konnan. We get pair offs in different rings, Benoit with Bagwell, and Mongo with Konnan. It's all Horsemen in control the entire period.

P4. Syxx- Benoit ambushes him as he comes in and Syxx takes a cage shot. So does Bagwell. Mongo throws Syxx up into the roof. Benoit hooks the crossface on Syxx but Bagwell breaks it up as the numbers advantage again gives the NWO the edge. Hennig is coming out! His arm is in a sling but he's here. Flair does a quick examination on it.

P5. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair- He's all over the NWO guys. Again with the even numbers the Horseman keep control the whole period.

P6. Kevin Nash- He hits a quick side suplex on Flair. Benoit tries to attack but goes into the cage instead. Big boot for Mongo. Another "We want Sting" chant. Flair low blows Syxx and Bagwell and hooks the figure four on Syxx.

P7. Curt Hennig- The sling is off! Hennig had handcuffs in there! All part of the plan. Wait, HENNIG ATTACKS MONGO! What the hell? And Flair! Yup, once again it's the "new guy comes to WCW, suckers the WCW guys in and was with the NWO all along" angle. Mongo and Benoit both get handcuffed to the cage. A couple of refs run in, leaving the "locked door" unlocked, and one of them hands Nash a mic. Nash goes around the horn trying to get one of the Horsemen to surrender. No dice. Flair takes a Nash powerbomb, but still no one will give up. Finally Hennig goes out the very unlocked door, drags Flair across, and threatens to smash Flair's head in with the door. Mongo says "stop it", which I guess is good enough because the bell rings. Hennig murders Flair anyway. While the refs wrap Flair's head up with a towel, the now 5 NWO guys celebrate. Nash says on the mic that was the death of the Horsemen in Horsemen country. Sadly he pretty much wasn't wrong. A disgusted Tony quickly signs off and end show. They were building up a pretty nice War Games match, not blowaway great but pretty good, with Benoit in particular absolutely killing it out there (no pun intended), but that ending angle left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. ***1/4

The worst part was the Horsemen never got a chance at any kind of revenge. Flair would disband the group literally weeks later. It would stay dead for a year, and when the Horsemen were eventually brought back it probably would have been better off if they'd stayed dead. Yet more proof that in this era of WCW literally everything was subservient to making sure the NWO always looked good.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- As usual there's some really good stuff on the undercard, including a Jericho/Guerrero classic that gets overshadowed by what Guerrero did with Rey Mysterio at the next PPV, before the NWO stuff kicks in. Match quality wise it's not as bad as usual, but leaves zero doubt that still after over a year nothing in WCW was more important than the NWO. Even if World champ Hogan couldn't be bothered to show up half the time.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-